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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Cropping Monsanto's patent rights -Vivian Fernandes

Cropping Monsanto's patent rights -Vivian Fernandes

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published Published on May 25, 2017   modified Modified on May 25, 2017
-The Financial Express

The agriculture ministry is not reconciled to the grip which Monsanto has on the Indian cottonseed industry owing to the immense preference for its patented, genetically-modified (GM) bollworm-resistance traits. On May 16, Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta intervened in a dispute between Monsanto and its biggest (now divorced) sub-licensee, Hyderabad-based Nuziveedu Seeds. He made written submissions on behalf of the government, a week after hearings on the matter had ended.

The ASG believes that GM traits, if protected under the Indian Patents Act (IPA), can threaten the country’s food security. He asserts that Monsanto and its licensees having “got used to making huge profit at the cost of farmers… appear to be building up a case law under the IPA so as to excessively profit even in the future through monopoly” defeating the “intent of the government to regulate cottonseed under the PPVFR enactment.” He wants widely-used traits like Monsanto’s to be “Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) where everyone has got a right of access but not for free and has to pay as decided by the regulator.”

The ASG has submitted that “PPVFR Act is a complete code balancing the interests of all stakeholders like breeders, trait developers and farmers.” He is referring to the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPVFR) Act, which was enacted in 2001 to encourage farmers to conserve traditional varieties. These have inherent strengths. They are hardy, having been acclimatised to local conditions over many generations. Diversity is essential for food security. With these objectives, the law gave conservers of traditional varieties a share of the gain, should these be commercially exploited, through the National Gene

Fund to be set up and managed by the PPFVR Authority. The ASG’s contention is that the Patents Act, as amended in 2002, has a list of exclusions. It does not allow plants and animals, including seeds, varieties and species to be patented. It excludes biological processes for production or propagation of plants and animals.

The ASG says GM traits like insect resistance or herbicide tolerance, or methods of inserting them into plants, can be patented. But, once they are implanted, they become part of the plant and hence cannot be patented under IPA. Moreover, since the implanted genetic traits are passed on to subsequent generations through biological processes, a claim cannot be made under the Act.

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The Financial Express, 24 May, 2017, http://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/cropping-monsantos-patent-rights/682740/


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